Thursday, January 18, 2018

Budget-friendly healthy and organic food shopping

I mentioned earlier that the main theme of my 2018 goals center around self care and taking care of me first for a change. Diet and exercise have been on the back burner for me for years. It's time to make some changes and get healthy, and food has a lot to do with it. Having four kids in the house can make it kind of tricky to eat well, since we tend to gravitate towards quick, easy, and inexpensive snack options to keep the little ones happy. I have a really hard time spending extra money from our food budget on specialty items for myself, regardless of how good they are. A recent (childless) trip to my local Grocery Outlet showed me that healthy options don't have to be expensive though.

I had no idea that Grocery Outlet had a selection like this, or that I could save 40-70% by shopping here. I browsed the aisles and found quite a few things I'd normally spend much more on at my other store. For example- this tahini, a specialty item needed to make your own hummus, is normally $12.99 (and you really only need a teeny bit of it). This jar of tahini is was only $5.99 at Grocery Outlet! Along with that I also found the organic garbanzo beans for my favorite hummus recipe as well, and some yummy, healthier "chips" to dip in it. All for such great prices.

I also found one of our toddler snack time favorites- Annie's chocolate bunny crackers, for only $.99! That was too good to pass up, and I like those too.

Quinoa- a dinnertime staple in my house, was about half the price I normally pay. I grabbed a big back to stock up and I'll have to remind myself to always come here for quinoa. We eat tons of it! It's a great side dish or salad addition. I love to throw it in a rice cooker and steam it with some chicken or vegetable stock for flavor. Then I top it with diced tomato and avocado, a little lime drizzle, and some salt and pepper. So good! I eat it as is or sometimes I'll throw it on top of some romain lettuce for some crunchy lettuce wraps.

All in all I only ended up spending about $26 at Grocery Outlet, and my receipt said that I saved over $37! Without any coupons or anything! Here's what I got:

Sea Salt baked chips

Organic garbanzo beans

Organic tahini

Almond butter

Organic blackberry jam

KIND granola bars

Annie's organic bunny crackers

Kale Krunch

Peanut butter granola bites

Pepper Jack cheese crackers

Organic quinoa

Not a bad little healthy haul, and I will definitely be back to Grocery Outlet now that I know what kind of stuff I can find there for so much less. Though I have heard though- if you see something you love, stock up because it might not be there next time. Check your local circular and snag this $3 off coupon now! Seriously though- give it a try and see how much you can save!